Objective
Cancer continues to be a major cause of death worldwide. While many drugs can reduce the size of tumors, their side effects commonly outweigh their benefits when the drug is administered by conventional methods. One promising approach to overcome this issue is to employ a synthetic enzyme to activate a prodrug into an active drug via a bioorthogonal reaction at the site of a tumor within a patient. Recent work by the group of Prof. E. W. Meijer at the Eindhoven University of Technology on amphiphilic polymers with pendant “sticky” hydrogen bonding moieties and pendant catalytic centers represents state-of-the-art synthetic enzymes. When these polymers are dissolved in dilute aqueous solutions, individual chains fold to form single chain polymer nanoparticles (SCPNs). The folding is thermodynamically driven by hydrophobic interactions and the dynamic aggregation of the “sticky” moieties. Although current SCPNs catalyze bioorthogonal reactions in water, they do not have well-defined high order structure like natural enzymes, instead exhibiting non-cooperative folding and open, elliptical structures. This lack of well-defined high order structure is due to a lack of polymer sequence control, as SCPNs reported to date are random or block copolymers. As a postdoctoral fellow in the Meijer group, I propose to make a new generation of biocompatible SCPNs that feature an aliphatic polycarbonate backbone that undergoes dynamic covalent chemistry in conjunction with the dynamic aggregation of the “sticky” pendant units to “molecularly evolve” the SCPN’s primary structure. This strategy will allow SCPNs to “correct” non-optimal sequences by giving each polymer chain the ability to reshuffle its primary structure, ultimately allowing the SCPNs to achieve lower energy folding states. I predict that the hydrophobic cores of the resulting evolved SCPNs will be more enzyme-like and thus better suited for catalysis and targeted drug therapy applications.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences chemical sciences polymer sciences
- natural sciences biological sciences molecular biology molecular evolution
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules proteins enzymes
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
MSCA-IF-EF-ST - Standard EF
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2015
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
5612 AE Eindhoven
Netherlands
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.